Having lunch the other day at one of the finer local eateries, I happened to overhear a somewhat whimsical conversation. Amid the bustle of the restaurant and food-in-mouth mumblings of two nearby patrons, I caught the word “Macintosh”. My ears perked up.

“You know,” the shorter one began, “I really just don’t understand what Apple is doing lately. On one hand, it’s making these great products like Power Macintoshes and PowerBook 500’s. On the other, it’s totally forgot about the industrial design of its desktop systems – especially at the low end.”

The bearded one smiled. This seemed to amuse him. “What are you getting at?”

“Well, remember when the Macintosh IIvx came out? I almost had a heart attack. The thing looked like a giant platinum brick. Worse yet, its casing was made of metal, like some cheap PC clone. I can’t believe they kept up with that design. It’s so…”

“Metal is cheaper than plastic,” the bearded one broke in. “Unlike a plastic chassis, Apple doesn’t have to line the inside of it with electromagnetic shielding. The metal does that itself. Avoids a redundancy, I guess. It’s strictly a cost decision.”

“That’s exactly it. There was a time when Macs were the finest looking computers around. Apple prided itself in its designs – everything flowed together – computer, monitor, mouse. All the components complimented each other. Now everything’s a cost decision.”

The shorter one was now visibly frustrated.

“Think about what they have done lately,” he continued. “They changed to manual-inject drives, tray-loaded CD-ROMs and these dinky little stickers  – I call them license plates –  for model names. Is this all necessary? I admit, I like the tray loading CD-ROM, but lump all these changes together in a Mac, a you throw design down the toilet. There’s no way you can now get any type of ‘flowing’ look to the machine. Mac design nowadays simply reflects the bottom line.”

The bearded one grinned again. “Oh, I think you’re over reacting just a bit. The low-end Mac designs look okay to me. I think…”

“Have you seen the new LC 630? By itself it looks confused. Add that repulsive 15” Multiple Scan Display  - a PC monitor stamped with an Apple logo -  and that chunky new AppleDesign keyboard to it, and  – oh, man –  you’ve got a Mac system that’s been beaten with the ugly stick. Newer incarnations of Packard Bell and Compaq machines look better than this…”

“Hey,” shouted the bearded one. “I think you’re being unfair. I enjoy many of the designs of Apple's recent releases  – the LC 630 has a sleek, low-profile look –  and things like the PowerBook 500’s, AppleDesign Speakers II and Power Mac 8100’s are evidence that Apple's doing something right. Remember, Apple is aiming for new market share. It wants to capture an additional one percent of the market every year for the next five years, and to do so it has to target customers who buy cheaper PC clones. To cut costs it must forgo the lengthy and expensive industrial design process, and rely more heavily on inexpensive components when it can, be it through the use of non-Trinitron technology, more metal and less plastic, IDE drives, chip integration, sticker model names and cheaper non-Sony parts. This will undoubtedly cause all of Apple’s low and possibly lower-mid-range Macs to appear like PC clones – something that you will see in 1995 anyway, with the licensing of System 7.5. The production of Mac clones will allow Apple to devote more time to advancing its software technologies. With a healthy crop of Mac clones being sold, it’s not unrealistic to envision Apple pulling out of the hardware market before the new millennium”

“But don’t you think Apple is forgetting its roots?” the shorter one demanded.

“Well, perhaps it is. But I think you also should consider that Apple might not be the company you once thought it was. It’s not just in business to change the world. It’s in business to make money.”

Sighing, the shorter one replied. “I guess Apple’s not so different  after all.”

They got up and left, and I haven’t seen them since.